Résumé : Historical figures are often known for specific achievements that are considered as of historical significance. The memory and the perception of the less salient antecedents to these outcomes are likely to be influenced by the knowledge of these achievements. In a study, we varied the outcome of a sequence of ambiguous behaviors performed by an imaginary historical figure during World War II: compared to a control condition where no outcome was presented, this person either ended up saving Jews (heroic behavior) or denouncing Jews to the Gestapo (cowardly behavior). Knowledge of the outcome affected memory and communication about these antecedents were assessed one week later. Behavioral antecedents that were consistent with the outcome were likely to be recalled and communicated. Participants also fall prey to a "hindsight'" bias i.e., they believed that the salient behavior was more predictable than it actually was in the control condition. We suggest that these findings are driven by a tendency towards Heroization/Demonization, which involves forming extreme impressions of the target, depending on the outcome. These impressions in turn guide recall and evaluations of predictability. Not only are such retrospective biases likely to operate at an individual cognitive level but they may also impact on communication about these episodes and thereby on the formation of collective memory.